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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260830
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260831
DTSTAMP:20260830T012139Z
CREATED:20260830T012139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260830T012139Z
UID:15421-1788048000-1788134399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 22nd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST AUGUSTINE \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord’s command seems hard and heavy\, that anyone who wishes to \nfollow him must renounce himself. But no command is hard and heavy when it \ncomes from one who helps to carry it out. That other saying of his is true: My \nyoke is easy and my burden is light. Whatever is hard in his commands is made \neasy by love. \nWe know what great things love can accomplish\, even though it is often \nbase and sensual. We know what hardships people have endured\, what \nintolerable indignities they have borne to attain the object of their love. What \nwe love indicates what sort of people we are\, and therefore making a decision \nabout this should be our one concern in choosing a way of life. Why be surprised \nif people who set their hearts on Christ and want to follow him renounce \nthemselves out of love? If we lose ourselves through self-love we must surely \nfind ourselves through self-renunciation. \nWho would not wish to follow Christ to supreme happiness\, perfect peace\, \nand lasting security? We shall do well to follow him there\, but we need to know \nthe way. The Lord Jesus had not yet risen from the dead when he gave this \ninvitation. His passion was still before him; he had still to endure the cross\, to \nface outrages\, reproaches\, scourging; to be pierced by thorns\, wounded\, \ninsulted\, taunted and put to death. The road seems rough\, you draw back\, you \ndo not want to follow Christ. Follow him just the same. The road we made for \nourselves is rough\, but Christ has leveled it by passing over it himself. \nWho does not desire to be exalted? Everyone enjoys a high position. But \nself-abasement is the step that leads to it. Why take strides that are too big for \nyou – do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with this step and you will \nfind yourself climbing. The two disciples who said: Lord\, command that one of \nus shall sit at your right hand in your kingdom and the other at your left had \nno wish to think about this step of self-abasement. They wanted to reach the top \nwithout noticing the step that led there. The Lord showed them the step\, \nhowever\, by his reply: Can you drink the cup that I am to drink? You who aim \nat the highest exaltation\, can you drink the cup of humiliation? He did not \nsimply give the general command: Let him renounce himself and follow me but \nadded: Let him take up his cross and follow me. \nWhat does it mean to take up one’s cross? It means bearing whatever is \nunpleasant – that is following me. Once you begin to follow me by conforming \nyour life to my commandments\, you will find many to contradict you\, forbid \nyou\, or dissuade you\, and some of these will be people who call themselves \nfollowers of Christ. Therefore if you meet with threats\, flattery\, or opposition\, \nlet this be your cross; pick it up and carry it – do not collapse under it. These \nwords of our Lord are like an exhortation to endure martyrdom. If you are \npersecuted you ought\, surely\, to make light of any suffering for the sake of \nChrist.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-22nd-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260831
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260901
DTSTAMP:20260830T115847Z
CREATED:20260830T115847Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260830T115847Z
UID:15424-1788134400-1788220799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \nTo the devil who was tempting him to blasphemy and saying: All this I \nwill give you if you will fall down and adore me\, the Doctor of truth [Jesus] \nopposed only the shield of truth and authority\, saying: It is written: you will \nworship the Lord your God\, and him only will you serve. But in the Book of \nKings\, when the minions of the Assyrian king blasphemed the Lord\, Hezekiah \nordered his own\, saying: Give them no answer! \nFor we must not answer the spirit of blasphemy in any way or converse \nwith it\, but only oppose to it the shield of faith. Its virulent malice tries to pollute \nwhatever you bring against it. It does not do this to get a satisfying answer\, but is \nonly putting on pressure to sadden the conscience of the believer or somehow to \ncorrupt the purity of his faith. \nThese are twin evils; one is the sting of the flesh\, the other that of the soul. \nAmong lazy persons they are both like a natural reminder which takes its origin\, \nas I have said\, from [Adam\,] the one who yearned to be like God because of the \nincantation of the old serpent. Immediately given over to the yearnings of the \nflesh\, he blushed at himself and covered those parts of the body which He\, who \nhad created them\, created without any need for covering. Each vice must have \nits own antidote. The same remedy does not apply to all members. What heals \nthe head does not heal the foot\, nor can what heals the weakness of the soul heal \nthe weakness of the flesh. \nTemptation of the flesh needs afflictions of the flesh and physical labors\, \nbut temptation of the soul cries out for the help of prayer\, reading and \nmeditation and any other spiritual study there may be. In particular one never \nacquires purity of faith except by true and profound humility of heart\, dutiful \ndevotion and unflagging perseverance in prayer. We must pray frequently\, \ntherefore\, and must say: Lord\, increase in us our faith! Often those who are \nadvancing in it\, if they do not have the grace that helps them\, suffer a natural \nuneasiness. \nRationality\, in itself restless and impudent\, often assaults faith there\, \nwhere it possesses the faculty of reasoning\, although with no intention of \ncontradicting it; not so that it can run against faith but so that it can run with \nfaith. As human reason is accustomed to act in human realities through\, as it \nwere\, the unavoidable medium of believing\, so it tries to break through into the \nrecognition of divine realities. But since it mounts from a different direction\, it \nslips\, it stumbles\, it sinks until it turns back to the door of faith\, to him who said: \nI am the door. And once humbled beneath the yoke of divine authority\, as it is \nmore humble\, so more securely does it enter in.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-460/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260901
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260902
DTSTAMP:20260830T115945Z
CREATED:20260830T115945Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260830T115945Z
UID:15426-1788220800-1788307199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nISAAC OF STELLA \n◊◊◊ \n“Jesus\, when he saw how great was their number\, went up to the \nmountainside.” Today\, dear friends\, we see our heaven-sent Physician \nunsealing the precious perfumes that he has brought with him from the bosom \nof the Father; brought to heal the wounds of the man who\, on his way down \nfrom Jerusalem to Jericho\, fell in with robbers. This unnamed man on his way \ndown represents Adam and all his descendants. It was only right that he should \nfall in with robbers\, he was but paying for the freely chosen folly of his journey. \nHad he but chosen it\, Adam could have remained in the happy state bestowed \non him at his creation\, in that wealth of good things safe from all loss. He freely \nfell because he chose to do so\, and because he journeyed down\, he fell into the \ngrip of the ruthless. He had to endure what he did not wish precisely because he \nrefused to stay where suffering could never have touched him. \nThese malicious robbers are not only the evil spirits\, but also the many \npassions of our bodies and spirit that wounded the Psalmist and made him \ngroan\, “Oh\, how often you have burdened me with bitter trouble.” Yes\, he \nsuffers unwillingly although deservedly; the price (I beg to repeat) of his freely \ndeciding to descend was his meeting robbers and suffering at their hands. Never \nwould the Lord of mercy have allowed man to fall into such cruel hands had not \nman by his own personal and conscious wickedness first deserted him to whom \nhe should have looked for strength. Man forsook God\, man went his way down\, \nand because he went down\, he was forsaken by him who did not go down. \nForsaken by God\, man fell into the power of him to whom such power was \npermitted\, the devil. He showed no pity\, but robbed\, wounded\, and left him \nhalf-dead. He who is altogether dying left man half-dead\, in other words \nhalf-alive. And such is the life of mortal man: a living dying. The devil’s dying\, \non the other hand\, is completely deadly\, leaving no room for recall to life. The \nangels’ living in its turn\, is fully vital\, having no tendency toward death. \nMortal man\, then\, is left half-dead — though alive\, he tends inevitably \ntowards death\, though dead\, he is open to cure. “They wounded him\,” the \nGospel tells us. We must look into this\, see what these wounds are\, even if our \nsituation teaches us what it means far better than any explanation. In addition \nto the weaknesses and afflictions of the body\, themselves “past all numbering”\, \nthe wounds inflicted on and infecting mankind\, in and from our first parent\, are \nof seven kinds\, of many species\, and beyond all counting. The infections that \nstem from Original Sin and afflict us all are only seven\, but they beget a \nwayward\, viper-like brood that caters to all sorts of sinful tendencies.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-461/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260902
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260903
DTSTAMP:20260830T120046Z
CREATED:20260830T120046Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260830T120046Z
UID:15428-1788307200-1788393599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR KARL RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nWhat must we do in order to avoid stifling the Spirit? This is a dark and \ndifficult question. If it could ever be thought easy to answer it would be no \nquestion at all. The real answer to it is itself a factor in the movement and \nguidance of the Spirit\, who himself ensures that he shall not be stifled. It can be \nfound\, in the last analysis\, not by the reflexive processes of theory and \nspeculation\, but rather\, at basis\, through the sureness of instinct to be found in \nChristian living. \nThe first thing that we could do\, and do with all our hearts\, would be to \nacquire an attitude of caring; of recognizing with anxiety that it is possible to \nstifle the Spirit. The Spirit can be stifled not indeed throughout the entire \nChurch\, but still over so wide an area\, and to such a terrible extent that we have \nto fear that judgment which begins with the house of God. And for this reason \nwe must all face the possibility with fear and trembling that we could be the ones \nwho stifle the Spirit – stifle him through that pride in ‘knowing better’\, that \ninertia of heart\, that cowardice\, that unteachableness with which we react to \nfresh impulses and new pressures in the Church. \nHow different many things would be if we did not so often react to what is \nnew with a self-assured superiority\, an attitude of conservatism\, adopted as a \ndefense not of the honor of God and the teaching and institutions of the Church\, \nbut of our own selves\, of what we have always been accustomed to\, of the usual\, \nwith which we can live without daily experiencing the pain of the new metanoia. \nBut if we realized\, and with burning conviction\, that we can also be judged \nfor our omissions\, for a general obtuseness and inertia of heart which\, though \nindefinable\, extends over all spheres of our lives\, for our culpable lack of \ncreative imagination and boldness of spirit\, then we should lend a sharper ear\, \nkeener eye\, a livelier anticipation to the slightest indication that somewhere that \nSpirit is stirring whose inspiration is not merely confined to the official \npronouncements and directives of the Church\, or to the holders of official \npositions in her. \nThen we should be eagerly on the watch to see whether charisms were not \nappearing\, of which only a glimpse and a feeling can initially be obtained. Then \nwe would not make it a condition for admitting those charisms which the Spirit \nwills to impart (a condition to which\, however\, we do not subject our own lives \nand activities) that such charisms must have no element of the human in them\, \nnothing which has not yet been purified out. For this is not possible in view of \nthe fact that even the fire of the Holy Spirit burns up from the thorn-bush of our \nhuman – all too human – nature.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-462/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260903
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260904
DTSTAMP:20260830T120203Z
CREATED:20260830T120203Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260830T120203Z
UID:15430-1788393600-1788479999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Gregory the Great
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST GREGORY THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nThere is in contemplation a great effort of the mind\, when it raises itself \nup to heavenly things\, when it fixes its attention on spiritual things\, when it tries \nto pass over all that is outwardly seen\, when it narrows itself that it may be \nenlarged. And sometimes indeed it prevails and soars above the resisting \ndarkness of its blindness\, so that it attains to somewhat of the unencompassed \nLight by stealth and scantily; but for all that\, to itself straightaway beaten back it \nreturns\, and out of that light into which panting it had passed\, into the darkness \nof its blindness sighing it returns. \nIn the wrestling of Jacob with the Angel\, the Angel symbolizes the Lord\, \nand Jacob\, who contends with the Angel\, represents the soul of each perfect one\, \nwho exercises contemplation. Such a soul\, when it strives to contemplate God\, \nas if placed in a wrestle\, now comes uppermost\, because by understanding and \nfeeling it tastes somewhat of the unencompassed Light; and now falls \nunderneath\, because in the very tasting it faints away. Therefore\, so to say\, the \nAngel is worsted when by the innermost intellect God is apprehended. \nAlmighty God\, when He is now known through desire and intellect\, dries \nup in us every fleshly pleasure; and whereas before we seemed to be both \nseeking God and cleaving to the world\, after the perception of the sweetness of \nGod\, the love of the world grows feeble in us\, and the love of God alone waxes \nstrong; and while there increases in us the strength of inmost love\, without \ndoubt the strength of the flesh is weakened. \nThe sweetness of contemplation is worthy of love exceedingly\, for it \ncarries away the soul above itself\, it opens out things heavenly\, and shows that \nthings earthly are to be despised; it reveals things spiritual to the eyes of the \nmind\, and hides things bodily. \nBut we must know that so long as we live in this mortal flesh no one so \nadvances in power of contemplation as to fix the mind’s eyes as yet on the \nunencompassed ray itself of Light. For the Almighty God is not yet seen in this \nbrightness\, but the soul beholds something beneath it\, by which refreshed it \nmay progress\, and hereafter attain to the glory of the sight of Him. When the \nmind has made progress in contemplation it does not yet contemplate that \nwhich God\, but that which is under Him. But in that contemplation already the \ntaste of interior quiet is experienced.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-gregory-the-great-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260904
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260905
DTSTAMP:20260830T120330Z
CREATED:20260830T120330Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260830T120330Z
UID:15432-1788480000-1788566399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from the Encyclical “Ut Unum Sint” by \nPOPE ST JOHN PAUL II \n◊◊◊ \nPassing from the obligations of the Christian conscience to the actual \npractice of the ecumenical journey toward unity\, the second Vatican Council \nemphasizes above all the need for interior conversion. The second Vatican \nCouncil indicated as a dimension of renewal the ecumenical task of uniting \ndivided Christians\, “There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a \nchange of heart”. \nThe Council calls for personal conversion as well as for communal \nconversion. The desire of every Christian Community for unity goes hand in \nhand with its fidelity to the Gospel. Each one therefore ought to be more \nradically converted to the Gospel and\, without ever losing sight of God’s plan\, \nchange his or her way of looking at things. Thanks to ecumenism\, our \ncontemplation of the “mighty works of God” has been enriched by new horizons\, \nfor which the Triune God calls us to give thanks: the knowledge that the spirit is \nat work in other Christian Communities\, the discovery of examples of holiness\, \nthe experience of the immense riches present in the communion of saints\, and \ncontact with unexpected dimensions of Christian commitment. \nIn a corresponding way\, there is an increased sense of the need for \nrepentance: an awareness of certain exclusions which seriously harm fraternal \ncharity\, of certain refusals to forgive\, of a certain pride\, of an unevangelical \ninsistence on condemning the “other side”\, of a disdain born of an unhealthy \npresumption. \nThus the entire life of Christians is marked by a concern for ecumenism; \nand they are called to let themselves be shaped\, as it were\, by that concern. By \nengaging in frank dialogue\, Communities help one another to look at \nthemselves together in the light of the Apostolic Tradition. This leads them to \nask themselves whether they truly express in an adequate way all that the Holy \nSpirit has transmitted through the apostles. The unity willed by God can be \nattained only by the adherence of all to the content of revealed faith in its \nentirety. In matters of faith\, compromise is in contradiction with God\, who is \nTruth. \nIn the Body of Christ\, “the way and the truth and the life”\, who could \nconsider legitimate a reconciliation brought about at the expense of truth? Even \nso\, doctrine needs to be presented in a way that makes it understandable to \nthose for whom God himself intends it. Because by its nature the content of faith \nis meant for all humanity\, it must be translated into all cultures. Indeed\, the \nelement which determines communion in truth is the meaning of truth. The \nexpression of truth can take different forms. The renewal of these forms of \nexpression becomes necessary for the sake of transmitting to the people of today \nthe Gospel message in its unchanging meaning. \nAll this is extremely important and of fundamental significance for \necumenical activity. Thus it is absolutely clear that ecumenism. The movement \npromoting Christian unity\, is not just some sort of “appendix” which is added to \nthe Church’s traditional activity. Rather\, ecumenism is an organic part of her \nlife and work\, and consequently must pervade all that she is and does; it must be \nlike the fruit borne by a healthy and flourishing tree which grows to its full \nstature.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-463/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260905
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260906
DTSTAMP:20260830T120441Z
CREATED:20260830T120441Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260830T120441Z
UID:15434-1788566400-1788652799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY \n◊◊◊ \n“The Virgin kept all these things in her heart”: her whole history can be \nsummed up in these few words! It was within her heart that she lived\, and at \nsuch a depth that no human eye can follow her. When I read in the gospel “that \nMary went in haste to the hill country of Judea” to perform her loving service \nfor her cousin Elizabeth\, I imagine her passing by so beautiful\, so calm and so \nmajestic\, so absorbed in recollection of the Word of God within her. Like him \nher prayer was always this: “Ecce\, here I am!” Who? “The servant of the Lord\,” \nthe lowliest of his creatures: she\, his Mother! Her humility was so real for she \nwas always forgetful\, unaware\, freed from self. And she could sing: “The \nAlmighty has done great things for me\, henceforth all peoples will call me \nblessed.” \nThis Queen of virgins is also Queen of martyrs; but again it was in her \nheart that the sword pierced\, for with her everything took place within! Oh! \nHow beautiful she is to contemplate during her long martyrdom\, so serene\, \nenveloped in a kind of majesty that radiates both strength and gentleness. She \nlearned from the Word himself how those must suffer whom the Father has \nchosen as victims\, those whom he has decided to associate with himself in the \ngreat work of redemption\, those whom he “has foreknown and predestined to \nbe conformed to his Christ\,” crucified by love. She is there at the foot of the \nCross\, standing\, full of strength and courage\, and here my Master says to me: \n[“Behold your Mother”] – He gives her to me for my Mother. \nAnd now that he has returned to the Father and has substituted me for \nhimself on the Cross so that “I may suffer in my body what is lacking in his \npassion for the sake of his body\, which is the Church\,” the Blessed Virgin is \nagain there to teach me to suffer as he did\, to tell me\, to make me hear those last \nsongs of his soul which no one else but she\, his Mother\, could overhear.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-23/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
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